Marking strips are used preferably for the identification of baggage items at airports. Essential information such as the passenger's name, destination, bar codes, etc. is printed on the overlayer of the oblong marking strip. The substrate is then removed at least in certain sections. The marking strip is looped around the handle of the baggage and in those sections where the adhesive layer lies exposed is adhered to opposite sections of the marking strip.
A preferred embodiment of such a marking strip is described in European Patent, EP 0 568 843 B1. This marking strip has a main part and an adjacent separable control section which follows in longitudinal direction, with the control section and an adjacent section of the main part having on the rear side an adhesive coating covered by a silicone-coated surface strip. The surface strip has in the area of the main part a strongly adhering section on its side facing the main part. To enable the surface strip to be affixed to the marking strip in one operation when joining together the two parts, the silicone coating is neutralized in the strongly adhering section or is covered by an adhesive layer. The marking strip described in this European patent specification is ideally suited for being manufactured with the method of the present invention, because the surface strip is interrupted at regular intervals. In the areas of the ends of the surface strip the possibility exists to position an identification element between the two strips using the method of the present invention.
However, the art also knows of other marking strips comprised of at least one continuous substrate and at least one continuous overlayer. All these marking strips can be provided with identification elements according to the method of the present invention if a severing cut is present in at least one of the aforementioned layers, the cut extending orthogonally to the longitudinal direction of the marking strip and hence interrupting the respective layer, so that it is again possible in the area of the severing cut to position a marking element between the interrupted and a continuous layer.
In this connection it is irrelevant whether the severing cut already exists in a layer of the marking strip or whether provision is made for a further device at a suitable site of the device of the preset invention to provide the severing cuts in the respective layer.